New York Factory Gauge Improves Slightly, Price Gauge at Record

Manufacturing activity in New York state barely improved in February from a month earlier, falling short of expectations for a more robust rebound, while a measure of selling prices surged to a record high.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general business conditions index increased to 3.1 from minus 0.7 a month earlier, a report showed Tuesday. Figures below zero indicate contraction, and the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a rebound to 12. Responses were collected between Feb. 2 and Feb. 9.